It is with the recent brutal murder of Alejandro Nieto by four San Francisco Police officers in the rapidly gentrified Bernal Heights neighborhood that we see the continuous violence from police and the state to ensure a safe passage for incoming development and gentrification.

As the rents and condos go up, so does the abuse we face at the hands of the police. The police are the ones who murder and evict poor people to ensure this profitable transformation of San Francisco.

From campaigns backed by developers to sweep the homeless out of BART plazas, to the horrific police murder of Kenneth Harding Jr., to the recent brutal beatings of young men of color by SFPD like D’Paris Williams and Kevin Clark, one thing is made clear: the police are the foot soldiers of gentrification. As many people have stated openly, their role is to push out homeless, poor, working class, and largely people of color from areas that are prime targets of gentrifying business interests.

Across the bay area, we see increased stratification, rising rents, and mounting police and surveillance powers aimed at the general population and those who resist. We see San Francisco City College attacked and foreclosures being evicted by police raids while politicians seek only to channel our anger back into the political system, back into getting them elected. We need to find ways to organize among ourselves and find our own power. We need to stop each and every eviction. We need to stop the police from killing people in our neighborhoods. We need to blockade and stop an economy based on exploitation and misery.

For other actions fighting gentrification check out defendthebayarea.org and see you in the streets.